Hi there! The Papertrey Ink team is introducing a beautiful new stamp set to be released in a couple of days, it's called Bountiful Banners. Each of us were to choose an inspiration piece first to get us started with ideas, and I found this wonderful scrapbook layout by Wilna Furstenberg. Her work ALWAYS inspires me! It's so fresh and carefree and happy. Scrapbook pages can certainly inspire you to make a card (or TWO in this case). I'll explain my process... First, I was inspired by the text on the scrapbooking layout and how everything was layered over it, so I grabbed Papertrey Ink's Background Basics: Text Style stamps and started at the bottom stamping with True Black ink and stamping again as I went up the card without reinking. It created an ombre effect from dark to light. Both cards began this way with the text portion stamped first. I was inspired also by the light, fresh colors in the page: the pinks, blues, yellows and whites. I found this pretty brad in my stash by Crate Paper that had the look I was going for. I loved her little word banners on her layout too, so next was the banner. I die cut a banner from the Bountiful Banners dies with Aqua Mist cardstock and stamped/embossed thank you in white with the Bountiful Banners stamps. I added the "Wonderful Friend" stamp from the Think Big Favorites #4 stamps. Then I felt like the top of the design was a little bare, so I found this swirl stamp in the Vintage Labels stamp set to add some visual weight to the top of the card. Thank You Wonderful Friend card: STAMPS: Bountiful Banners, Background Basics: Text Style, Think Big Favorites #4, Vintage Labels INK: True Black, Raspberry Fizz, Fresh Snow, Harvest Gold PAPER: Stampers Select White, Aqua Mist and Soft Stone cardstock DIES: Bountiful Banners dies OTHER: Crate Paper brad. ---------- On the second card, I used the Think Big Favorites #4 set again to stamp the "Thank You" and placed it on a vertical. The layering of everything on the layout inspired me to die cut "you" from the Wonderful Words dies and add it over the top. Using white assures that it doesn't take over the design, but just adds some dimension and interest. Soft Stone cardstock is so pretty with these colors, so I trimmed a partial banner down to add to this card in Soft Stone. I LOVE gray right now. It goes with everything! A couple of pearls finish it off (and help hide any smudges I might have left behind with my fingers)! I love the paint splatters on the original page, however I'm not very good at adding paint in that fashion. I chose to instead add the heart stamps from Bountiful Banners to add a similar feel that the paint splatters would add... little splashes of color. Thank You Hearts card: STAMPS: Bountiful Banners, Think Big Favorites #4, Background Basics: Text Style INK: True Black, Soft Stone, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Spring Moss, Harvest Gold PAPER: white, Aqua Mist cardstock DIES: Bountiful Banners dies, Wonderful Words dies OTHER: pearls. --------- Would you like to see more Bountiful Banners? I think this is going to be one of the most versatile sets. The banners could really be used with anything! Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings... you name it. Here are the other team members' blogs: Betsy Veldman Cristina Kowalczyk Dawn McVey Erin Lincoln Heather Nichols Jessica Witty Maile Belles Melissa Phillips Nichole Heady